25 Years Ago

June 2, 1978

Sweltering

"IF WE had put oars on the piers, people would have hired them out," was the way Ambleside boatmen described the weekend rush to be near cooling water, as thousands of visitors crowded into the Lake District for the hottest Spring Bank Holiday for 25 years.

Some 2,800 cars an hour headed for the Lake District at peak times and waterside space quickly became a prime target. Beauty spots such as Fell Foot, Newby Bridge and Tarn Hows were packed to overflowing.

Even the estuary near Greenodd railway viaduct was busy with swimmers and sunbathers, streams in the Lyth Valley became popular paddling pools and the smaller lakes and tarns were alive with swimmers and holidaymakers in inflatable dinghies and canoes.

Pubs throughout the district did a roaring trade, and the marquee at Cartmel Races ran out of beer, half way through Monday's meeting.

Traffic volume created problems at the Levens bottleneck, with long tailbacks on the Ulverston Road as traffic poured in and out of the Cartmel peninsula. Arnside Gala also compounded the problems.

50 Years Ago

May 30, 1953

Royal fever

CORONATION festivities in Westmorland, the West Riding and North Lancashire have been arranged on a scale never previously attempted.

In some centres, the celebrations, with many varied events, run to a ten-day programme.

The most spectacular events include torchlight processions, illuminated boats on Grasmere and the singing of Windermere Male Voice Choir on Windermere Lake while the old beacon sites of the Armada days will again blaze forth throughout the North West.

The small community of Oxenholme has a ten-and-a-half hour programme. On Helme, Natland has a bonfire of such proportions that "it may burn for a week."

Among the events at Ingleton will be the dedication of a mountain shelter on Ingleboro to commemorate the Coronation.

At Kendal, the programme of special events covers a ten-day period up to the end of Coronation week. On Coronation Day, a cinematograph film of events in the town and district is to be made, sponsored by the committee of the Mayor's Homes for the Aged Fund and a public showing of the film will be arranged later.

100 Years Ago

May 30, 1903

Modern art

THE picture-posters at Abbot Hall, Kendal, are quite worth seeing once, like Madame Tussaud's Waxworks. Unlike the waxworks, however, these creations "palpitate with modernity." There were picture advertisements before the Decadents; but the picture-poster is a thing of today, or at the farthest of yesterday. At Abbot Hall, several rooms are filled with examples of this peculiar phase of art from France, Italy, Germany and, of course, England. It is of the essence of the picture-poster to be insolent, prodigal. Even as the Prodigal Son was seen while he was yet a great way off, the picture-poster must be seen, and it must not only be visible, it must hit you between the eyes. In the collection at Abbot Hall an attempt has been made to illustrate the artistic qualities of good poster work; and the visitor who is perplexed by the pictures will find in the entrance hall some brief hints for his illumination. Speaking generally, the French designs are the most artistic and the English the most humorous.

150 Years Ago

May 28, 1853

Lucky escape

ON WEDNESDAY last, an accident of a very serious nature happened to Mrs Moore of the Sun Inn, Dent. She was proceeding from Dent to Ingleton in a gig, and had not gone more than about 200 yards from the town when, as she was passing a cart laden with wood, her driver was pulling up to one side and ran against the wall. The sudden shock threw Mrs Moore from the gig and she fell with her neck under the wheel of the wood cart; fortunately, however, the driver of the cart saw her falling and instantly stopped his horse, or without doubt the cart would have passed over her neck. She was at once carried home, when her knee was found to be seriously cut and the ankle dislocated.

May 29, 2003 15:30